Who am I?
by Charna Toiba
Summary: Who am I? An assassin, a temple girl, an enigma. I don't know where I come from or who my family is but I know one thing. I will prove to you that I'm not who you think. Not what you expect. My name is Persephone and I will prove you all wrong and show you who I am and what I can do as I risk my life for those that I love more then anything. I will show every one I'm more then thin
1. Chapter 1

Different from the original chapter I posted.

Who am I? An assassin, a temple girl, an enigma. I don't know where I come from or who my family is but I know one thing. I will prove to you that I'm not who you think. Not what you expect. My name is Persephone and I will prove you all wrong and show you who I am and what I can do as I risk my life for those that I love more then anything. I will show every one I'm more then think.

-PROLOGUE-  
My head is pounding, a constant drum beat on my skull. I push myself off a cold stone floor. I look up to see stars thrown across dark blue velvet. I curl back into a ball as the wind howls, stabbing me with ice blades. I shakily stand and back against a wall. I'm in an unknown city where people sleep on despite my watching over them. I turn away from them and push on a door behind me. My head shouts at the shriek from the old door as I drag myself in to protect against the elements.

The room I enter is dark except a few faint flickers from candles. They throw monstrous Shadows of the people kneeling and worshipping.I stagger further into the room slipping slightly as my dress snags. There's a women watching my stumbling. I slowly approach her before asking where I am. "You are in the temple of Dibella. In Markath. Is there anyway I can be of assistance?" She asks me. I look around surveying the statues of the deity.

"I'm not sure why I'm here. I woke up here. I don't know where I'm from or why I'm here. I can't even remember my mother or father" she looks sympathetic and leads me away from the room of worshippers. "Please rest for the night. We can take care of you here. We will help you find your family."

She said they would help me find my family. And I did. In a way. I found the people that truly cared about me. Evidently my parents don't care or they would have come back. I used to imagine them as Hero's fighting for what is right but now I just see them as cowards. Abandoning their child and not even leaving a message. I grew up with out parents and I resent them for it.

The temple is the only home I know but I want to see the world or at least Skyrim. And yet, I feel compelled to stay. I owe my life to the priestesses that raised me. If they had turned me away I don't know what would have happened to me so I am eternally thankful to them. They are my family. But still I wonder about life beyond Markath.

When I was younger I got in trouble for fighting with the local boys. I was good at it. That's what worried the priestesses most. I beat all the boys that tried to fight me. I rarely got more then a scratch from them. I could fight. I don't know who taught me. I want to leave and fight. I hear all the stories about vampires and werewolves. All we have in Markath is the forsworn and they never put up a good fight. I fought one when I was younger. That was the worst fight I've been in. And he was worse of.

I want to travel and prove I'm not just a kid with amnesia. Prove that I am better then that. But I can't leave. Outside this city I have no one. I don't think I ever have.I am an imperial they think I'm from cyrodiil. My name is Persephone and this is the story of how I made something of myself from nothing. I left Markath just before my nineteenth birthday with a promise to come back one day. I told them I needed to find out who I am not just by birth but who I am outside the temple and what is expected of me. I'm going to show this province Persephone is not just the temple girl. I'm going to show them who I am and what I can do. I'm going to show them not to mess with me.

And I did. I showed them. I really did but everyone reaches their limit. Has a weakness. Everyone falls down someday. Sometimes people can pull them up. I don't have that. I'm alone and I don't know what to do. And as I watch snow turn red I can't help think of how this started. And it started with a prayer.


	2. Chapter 2

**More of a filler chapter to get to the proper story. I'll get to the story late**

It started with a prayer.

The black sacrament. The summoning of an assassin. Again a child has prayed to the night mother.

Sweet mother, sweet mother.  
Send your child unto me  
For the sins of the unworthy  
Must be baptised in blood and  
Fear

Amaund Montirres prayer to my family. The prayer that pulled us into the mess. The silence was broken and that was who I had to find. I received my contract and told my family before starting with the murder of a bride on her wedding day.

Vittoria Vici. Dead by my hand on her wedding day. Married less then an hour and I had ruined everything for her husband. She started my spiral into depression. I had just ruined a life. I didn't care before. Thats why I was good at my job. I could kill with out a care. But watching the impact of a death on the victims family was too much.

I returned to the sanctuary and hid my feelings. An emotional assassin was a compromise. But the guilt gnawed at me. And then the death of someone arranging protection. He wasn't very old but if I was to succeed it was needed. But this was another death that wasn't essential. I could leave skyrim to complete the contract but instead I murdured those close to draw him to me.

Then there was the chef. Again I didn't need to kill him. I could of picked his pockets to get in. But instead I killed him. It made it a bit easier but still. I kept killing. And the guilt kept building. I left his body where he died making it look like he killed himself. People believed that. By now I wanted people to catch me and make me stop but no one stopped me. They let me kill people.

Finally there was the target himself. The Emperor of Tamriel. I put poison in his food and he died after eating it. There was nothing in his death. To me someone died. Because someone wanted a better Job. And then I found out the truth. He wasn't even the emperor I had just killed an innocent man. A man that had nothing to do with the emperor was killed because I followed my orders.

And just to finish everything of with a nice flourish. Astrid betrayed me and because of that all of my family but Nazir and Babette died. And Cicero but he wasn't family. He was a fool I spared because I felt sympathy towards the jester. Nothing of the sanctuary was left. It had all burnt. Not even the bodies survived. They couldn't be identified or buried. They were left to rot like animals.

Astrid destroyed our family because of me. If I didn't turn up they would still all be alive. Gabriella, Vazeera, Festus, Arnbjorn and Astrid. They were all family even Astrid after what she did. She killed all of theses but so did I. They would still be in the sanctuary providing Cicero didn't kill them all by going completely off his rocker. Which is possible. And highly likely.

I left after that. I let Babette finish the contract. I couldn't hurt them anymore if I wasn't there. I had already destroyed their home so I couldn't do much worse. I left letting them have a better life without me. They would probably would live longer without me in dawnstar. Nazir could lead what little was left of the family that I killed.


	3. Chapter 3

I left my family and traveled north to Solitude. I stayed in Solitude for three months.

I stayed at the inn for the entirety of my time there. And I spent the evenings drinking, but it was never enough to make me forget all of my crimes. And I drowned all of my thoughts in the alcohol but the memories drowned me at night and in the time I wasn't drunk. These times I was in the temple of the divines.

This was why I picked Solitude. The temple where I could spend hours begging for forgiveness for the crimes I had committed. Crying out to the eight to lift the burden from my mind and make me forget like I had when I was eight. The relief never came but stilled I prayed in hope that they would help me. And when I felt no different I would drink until I couldn't remember my own name but then I would fall asleep and dream.

The night terrors. All of my victims screaming my name out all at once. The bride, the guard, the chef all killing me over and over, smothering me as a scream for the saviour that never came for them. I would wake up crying and apologising to the phantoms haunting my every breath. Every breath, because I breath and they don't. I would pant gasping for the stifling night air as they haunted me, every breath would burn through my throat making tears spring to my eyes. I would choke on the dense, hot air in my room and paw at my throat when it felt like I couldn't breath, like them. I barely slept for fear of the terrors that would crawl into my drunken mind. And when the sun rose I would return to the temple seeking the sweet relief of forgiveness and hoping the eight will strike me down for my sins.

It was a vicious circle. I would do everything exactly the same through out the months and occasionally going out to earn enough coin to pay for some more time in Solitude. But after three months the jobs dried up along with my coin so I had no choice but leave the city. I traveled towards Riften. I had lived there for about a year previous to my time with the brotherhood. I still had contacts there, hopefully. I might be able to find the few odd jobs to keep up an income. I stopped at Whiterun to pick up a couple of bounties to earn money for food on my journey. I was just leaving Dragons reach when I saw him leaving Jorvaskr.

When I was younger I had dreamed of joining the companions. The idea quickly left after I received such a scolding for fighting with some of the Markath boys. I soon forgot my dreams of being a companion or a mercenary of any type of fighter. I was bought up to shun violence and do ladylike things like arranging flowers to please a goddess. But seeing this tall man leaving Jorvaskr reminded me of my scrapes as a child and my dream of making an honest living by helping people. The right way this time not just by killing someone for money. But fighting to help people like the proud imperials I hail from.

I had been so absorbed in my thoughts that I didn't notice that the man I saw earlier had come running up the stairs. And before either of us realised the other was there he had sent me tumbling into the pool below with a silent shriek of shock. I crashed into the ice cold waters, it is Skyrim after all, and sunk towards the bottom.

Then my senses kicked in and I propelled my self through the water to the steps. I dragged my self out of the water, my hair plastered to my neck and face making me look rather bedraggled. my dark blue dress clung to my body and weighed me down with the sheer weight of all the water absorbed. I gave a short huff of anger before begging to squeeze water out of my nearly black dress. Water began to puddle at my feet as I wrung out as much of the liquid as I could. I then worked my slim fingers through my ginger tangles. Rivulets ran down my pale hands and arms and I shivered at the feel of the water.  
"I'm sorry" came a gruff voice from behind me "I should of seen you there. Is there anyway I could make it up to?" The apology seemed sincere. I turned to see the man who had knocked me into the water. He looked a lot taller now that he was stood before me. He had broad shoulders making him seem even bigger. I was like a mouse compared to him. He had dark hair that was rather messy and kind brown eyes. "I should of looked where I was going. It is not your fault, I was too distracted to notice you." I told him. I smiled up to him "however you could help me. I need to buy some more arrows. My quiver is nearly empty. Where is the best place in Whiterun to get some?"

"A little thing like you shouldn't be using a weapon" he said frowning "how old are you?" My prior smile turned into a scowl "I'm twenty five. There is nothing wrong with being small" I turned from him and walked away quickly. Not wanting to see him again. What a rude man I thought. If anyone had told me then about what would happen through out the next year I would have laughed. I had no idea of who he would end up being.

I left Whiterun after that encounter. I would have to buy arrows when I go through Riverwood. I wasn't too far from the city when I heard the shouting. I ran toward the shouts.


End file.
